Voice
by HoneyFlower15
Summary: A Hollow attacks and Momo loses her voice so Hitsugaya makes it his duty to keep any harm that may hurt her away, even if he over does it. With her voice completely gone, they need to find the Hollow and get it back before she loses it forever. Hitsuhina


Hitsugaya sighed from his desk as he read over and re-did paper after paper. In his absences he had his third seat do the paper work but it seems Matsumoto's influence was stronger then he thought. Though the third seat officer did some paper work, there was still a mountain of work that was waiting for him when he returned. Hitsugaya punished his third seat and had Matsumoto banned from all the bars for about a week. It didn't stop her from drinking sake though; she always managed to get some and ended up getting drunk on the couch in the office.

Finally finished he sighed once again and looked up at the ceiling; his mind was spinning with thoughts. Hinamori was finally awake, he could finally talk with her again but all she wanted to talk about was saving Aizen. Hitsugaya growled at the very thought of the traitor, his hatred for the man grew everyday that he sometimes had trouble controlling himself. Even now, just thinking about him and how Hinamori was still devoted to him had him fuming with anger. His desk was beginning to freeze over from his feelings but he did not care.

"Hinamori," He spoke her name in a whisper, wishing that there was more he could do for her. She had done so much for him and he couldn't do anything in return for her. As a child he didn't have any friends besides Hinamori. She was the one that found him when he first entered this world, she smiled at him and didn't run away in fear like all the others, she stayed by his side and made sure that his life was happy. "What do I do?" He wished an answer would just suddenly appear and make his life that much easier. War was coming and he knew it wouldn't end well for him if he was distracted. He couldn't die, he wouldn't die and leave Hinamori all alone and defenseless. He had to keep his promise to protect her, he had to stay alive so that no more of her blood could be spilled.

He wasn't sure what actions he should take, what move he was supposed to make next. If he made the wrong one he could end up ruining his relationship with Hinamori completely and he wasn't sure if he could live with himself if that happened. He would rather have her hate him instead of being a stranger to him. Even if she spoke words of hate at him, it meant that she still acknowledged him instead of what they were doing now. He saw her only once when he returned and the atmosphere was so awkward around them that even Zarkai would run for the hills. "Perhaps I should try and speak with her one more time." He decided getting up form his seat and headed for the door, ready to try and speak with Momo again.

"Captain!" Rangiku came running into the office, knocking Hitsugaya down because of her big breasts.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya roared standing back up, holding his head in pain. "Just what the hell are you doing?" He shouted wondering what she was trying to do. If she was going to try and sweet talk him into letting him un-ban her from the bars she had better leave. There was only one person that could sweet talk him into changing his mind and that person wasn't really talking to him at the moment.

"A Hollow has been spotted inside the Seireitei. Captain Yamamoto is requesting Squads eight and ten to handle it." She reported in what she had been told. It was one of the few times that she was being serious and Hitsugaya didn't question it.

"Let's move!" The two readied themselves and ran out of the office and took off to the streets of Seireitei. "Where was the Hollow last spotted?"

"No one is really sure actually." The two Tenth Squads officers looked to their right and saw Captain Kyōraku and Nanao running beside them. "All we know is that it's one sneaky Hollow if it was able to get through the barrier." Captain Kyōraku said, holding his hat with one hand.

"Do we know what it looks like?" Rangiku asked, going to stand beside Nanao.

"Nope." Kyōraku answered simply. "All we have is a brief description of it. Its body isn't like those of regular Hollows and it seems to have wings." They stopped running and stood on top of roof, looking out for any signs of the Hollow.

"What about the mask?" Hitsugaya asked, he kept his eyes peeled for any signs of movement that could be deadly. He looked all around him but he didn't see a thing, but he did hear something.

_A twinkle in the night sky far far away._

_A golden star I gaze upon in my dreams._

_On a sleepless evening I sing alone,_

_Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream._

"It sounds so beautiful." Rangiku commented, a smile appearing on her face at the sound of the voice.

"It sounds like it's coming from the Fourth Division." Kyōraku looked over to the building and smiled at the voice that was being blown through the wind, so many others could hear it.

"Hinamori…"Hitsugaya whispered out, his eyes glazing over as he listened to her voice. He recognized her singing immediately; she was singing the same song that she used to sing to him so long ago. Long before he was even aware of his powers and only just started dreaming about his sword he would wake up in the middle of the night, sweat dripping down form his face, his mind unable to fall back to sleep because of the sheer shock from the dreams. He would go days without proper sleep because of the dream and for a while he feared he would never sleep again. One night however, when he awoke Hinamori awakened as well and helped him fall back to sleep. This was the song that she would sing for him.

_On a sleepless evening I sing alone._

_Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream._

The words were so pure, so soft, and sounded so much like how he remembered them to be. This was the Hinamori that he used to know, the one that was always smiling, not this other one the one that Aizen created and then destroyed.

_BOOM!_

The peaceful moment was cut short when an explosion was heard and screams could be heard. All four officers looked to the source and saw that it was coming from the Fourth Division building. Smoke could be seen filling to clear sky and the shouts of the officers could be heard all over. A roar that could never belong to a human was heard next along with more screams.

"It's attacking the Fourth Division!" Rangiku shouted readying her sword as they all took off to fight the Hollow.

* * *

"Hurry! Put out those fires!" Third Seat, Yasochika Iemura shouted to every officer that was near. "We have to hurry before any patients get injured!" He shouted making everyone run faster then before.

"It looks like we've arrived too late." Hitsugaya landed with a sigh. He wanted to catch this Hollow and deal with it before it caused anymore any harm. It bothered him enough that the very place where Hinamori was in for recovery was just attacked. "What happened here?" He crossed his arms, waiting for a reply so he could continue in his search.

"Sir!" Yasochika saluted before giving his report. "I'm not sure how this happened but suddenly a Hollow appeared and started attacking the Division. As of now its whereabouts are unknown for it disappeared not long after it started its attack."

"Did you happen to notice anything strange about it?" Nanao questioned fixing her glasses, analyzing everything that she was being told, hoping it would help in their hunt.

"Now that you mention it, it looked more like a giant bird then a Hollow. Its mask as well had the shape of a bird's, and I believe there were traces of yellow on its wings." The third seat reported thinking back to when he saw the Hollow. "It almost reminded me of a Canary."

"A Canary?" Rangiku raised an eyebrow at the description of the Hollow. She's never heard of a Hollow that looked like a bird.

"Is there anything else?" Hitsugaya pushed for more information. "Perhaps-"

"Ahh!" A loud shriek was heard throughout the barrack. It was echoing off the walls, giving off a clear sound for someone to identify.

They all stiffened at the scream and readied themselves for what may come next. Rangiku went closer to Hitsugaya. "Captain, what should we…?" She, as well as everyone else, was shocked when they saw that Hitsugaya was no longer with them but was instead running down the halls to the scream. "Captain!" Rangiku ran after him, surprised by his sudden actions.

"What shall we do?" Nanao asked her Captain, this behavior of the Squad Ten Captain was unusual, but so was this whole case.

Captain Kyōraku just shrugged and walked forward. "We might as well join 'em. Can't hurt to see what's going on." He walked on knowing that Nanao would follow him. Although he looked calm on the outside, inside he was feeling uneasy. He didn't like what was happening in the Soul Society or what this new Hollow was doing.

* * *

"Hinamori!" Hitsugaya ran through the halls at full speed. He didn't pay attention to where he was going because he already knew by heart where he had to go. When he had to turn, when to stop, he's been down this hallway everyday before he left for the world of the living and even the day he returned. His heart stopped when he saw the doors to her room completely torn off their hinges and left behind only small pieces of rubble.

He jumped into the room, sword in hand as he searched for the Hollow and for his childhood friend. His eyes scanned the room when finally he spotted her raven hair, hidden behind the turned over bed.

"Hinamori!" He ran to her, relief coming over him when he saw that there were no injuries on her. She was sitting down on the ground and seemed to be in shock. A hospital robe was on her and her hair was down. He hadn't realized how much it had grown out. Sitting down next to her, he'd placed Hyōrinmaru back into its sheath and held her in his arms. One arm was around her shoulder, the other held her hand, silently telling her that he was there for her. That he really was there for her and so didn't need to worry about anything.

Opening her eyes, she looked up at him with tired eyes and sad eyes, but even with her eyes looking so empty he could still some traces of happiness in them. Momo nodded her head and smiled to him, her mouth already open explaining to him that she was alright.

Hitsugaya looked down at her strangely. "Hinamori? Are you alright? You're not answering me." He held her tighter and helped her stand up on her feet. Even if he couldn't see any injuries on her didn't mean that she couldn't have been hurt.

Momo returned the look back and opened her mouth once more to explain that she was alright. She made sure to speak in a loud and clear voice for him to hear. Her mouth was open but there was no sound coming out of it. Her eyes grew wide as she tired and tired again to talk, but no matter how she tired no sound would come out. Finally she fell to the ground in despair; hand on her throat wondering where her voice went.

"Hinamori?" Hitsugaya sat down in front of her. He didn't like how she was acting and became even more worried for her. "What's wrong? Why won't you answer me?" He waited for a reply but all she did was shake her head. "Why not? Hinamori, why won't you tell me what's wrong?" He placed both hands on her shoulder and moved his face closer to hers. "Momo, please…talk to me."

Tears were in here eyes at this point, Momo was ready to throw herself into his arms and cry. She's never seen him so distressed before in her life, she was so used to the confident and serious Toshiro Hitsugaya. Slowly she placed her fingers on his mouth and shook her head no once more. Her other hand was pointing to her lips, silently trying to tell him to watch her mouth and try to read her lips.

"_I…Can't…Talk." _

She kept repeating the same words over and over again, trying to get him to understand her. She waited and waited and waited until finally she saw his eyes widened.

"Momo…you," She smiled, happy that her friend understood her. "What do you mean you lost your thumb!" And now her happiness died and her head fell in shame. Where the hell did he get that from?

"You're not making any sense, Momo!" Hitsugaya wasn't understanding why she was playing games with him. "You need to tell me what's going on! I can't…!" Momo placed her hand over his mouth, stopping him from saying anything else. For a young boy that is considered a prodigy at everything he does, he really stinks at lip reading.

"Hinamori!" Rangiku came running in at that point, Nanao and Captain Kyōraku following closely behind. Momo gave a quite sigh in happiness, hopefully they would understand her. "Are you ok?" Rangiku sat down next to her Captain and looked over the young girl.

"You don't appear injured." Nanao walked up behind Rangiku and examined the Lieutenant of the Fifth Squad. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

Momo gave a sad shake of her head.

"What do you mean no?" Nanao wasn't happy with that response. She wondered if the attack had something to do with Aizen and if the young girl was protecting the traitor.

Momo placed her hand on her throat and tried to speak once more but there was still no voice in her.

Nanao was not amused by these actions. "Just what are you doing Lieutenant Hinamori?"

Momo taped her throat and tired to mouth the words out again but it wasn't working. No one could understand anything.

"So you say you lost your voice?" Captain Kyōraku sat down in front of her, holding her chin in his hands as he looked into her eyes. "That Hollow must have done something fierce for you to lose your voice like this."

"Her voice?" Hitsugaya questioned. "How can you tell?"

Kyōraku looked at Hitsugaya and smiled. "Because, I'm an excellent lip reader," He fixed his hat before picking Momo up bridal style. "Now we better get going. After all, don't you want to help her find her voice?" He didn't wait for a reply and started walking to where he knew Captain Unohana would be.

The three remaining shinigami looked at one another before quickly following the Captain of Squad Eight. Hitsugaya was the first to follow Kyōraku and went to walk besides him, or rather to walk closest to where Hinamori was. He wasn't sure what was going on, but if it involved Hinamori then he wouldn't back down or leave it to another Captain to handle. It was his duty to protect Hinamori, he made that vow from the moment they meet and he would keep it no matter what. After all, it was his fault that she had to be placed in the hospital in the first place; he wasn't able to stop her from getting hurt by Aizen so now he had to make it up to her by any means possible.

* * *

"It would seem that her voice has completely vanished." Unohana spoke softly, she was examining Hinamori's throat and was surprised by what she found. "I cannot heal her."

"What do you mean you can't heal her?" Hitsugaya jumped at that. "Why can't you?" He wanted her healed and better; he couldn't believe Unohana was saying he couldn't heal the girl. "You have to heal her! You're the best healer in this damn place so heal her already!" He knew he sounded like a brat but he couldn't help it. Hinamori was in pain and suffering and once again he couldn't do a thing for her.

"I cannot heal something that is not there." Unohana said calming, she understood enough why Hitsugaya was acting like he was.

"What do you mean by that?" Nanao asked, curious by these strange events.

"Her voice, voice box, vocal cords, everything that allowed her to speak is no longer there." Unohana gave a sad look over at the young girl. "It is almost like they were never there to begin with."

"But how can a voice just disappear?" Rangiku asked. She knew better then anyone else in this room how this whole thing was upsetting her Captain. It upset him more then he was letting on and she was worried.

Unohana only shook her head. "I'm not really sure."

"And that woman is why I'm here." Everything became silent when Captain Kurotsuchi walked in, Nemu following closely behind him. "Where you fail is where I shall succeed." He gave a taunting smile to the Fourth Division Captain before moving towards Momo. "Now then, be a good girl and open wide. I can't tell you what's the matter with you until I dissect…I mean, examine you."

Momo instantly paled when she saw him getting closer to her and was looking all over for a way for her to escape. Seeing no clear exit she settled for hiding behind Hitsugaya and praying he could get the crazy Captain to leave her alone and not open her up.

"You are not dissecting Momo." Toshiro told him, hand already reaching for his sword.

"Would you all just relax? I'm going to examine her throat to see what caused her voice to vanish." The Captain of Squad Twelve rolled his eyes at them all. "You all act as if I'm some horrible monster who just wants to use you all as my test subjects and conduct crazy experiments on you." He added on and looked at everyone in the room. They were all avoiding eye contact because that IS how they all viewed him.

Hitsugaya sighed and stepped aside so Momo could be seen. "Can you really help her?" He eyed him, trying to see if he was lying about helping Momo and only wanted to do an experiment on her.

"I can." Kurotsuchi eyed him back, daring Hitsugaya to try and go against him. Stepping forward he went to look over Momo, his hand went to her throat one finger running down the sides of it. He raised an eyebrow and pulled out what looked like a yellow ball and held it up to her throat. Before long it started to glow and then it passed through her throat and came out behind her head. "Interesting…" He pulled back the yellow ball. "Her voice cords are gone, as if they were ripped out of her throat."

"Do you know what happened to them?" Rangiku asked the Captain.

Kurotsuchi looked over at them and nodded. "I do but I must ask. You said that a Hollow attacked the room she was staying in and that's when she lost her voice?"

"That is correct." Unohana replied.

"Well it seems that the Hollow stole her voice from her." Captain Kurotsuchi told them, a wide grin on his face. "It's really quite interesting. If I have more time with the girl I could probably…" As he reached for Momo, Hitsugaya grabbed his hand and pushed him away from her.

"Not happening." He growled out, eyes glowing blue from his powers and ready to freeze the other Captain.

Kurotsuchi just sighed. "Fine," He walked away and out of the room. "I'll try and come up with a way that will allow the girl to talk, even if it is only for a short amount of time."

With him gone the room suddenly seemed less scary and more livable. Momo hung her head and was trying not to cry. If she couldn't talk then she couldn't release Tobiume and if she can't do that then she could no longer be a shinigami. She would be forced to leave and probably never see her friends again. With the war coming there was a possibility that many of her friends could die and she then she really would never see them again.

"Don't look so down," Her head went up in surprise and saw Captain Kyōraku standing in front of her, his hand on her head. "Things may seem pretty bad for now but give it time and I'm sure everything will turn out alright." He gave her a reassuring smile.

Momo looked up at him and smiled back. He was right, although things seemed bad now she was sure it would turn out alright in the end. She would get her voice back.

"Well then," Captain Kyōraku fixed his hat and began to walk towards the exit, Nanao following behind. "I'll go and inform Old Man Yama 'bout what just took place here. Captain Hitsugaya, I'll leave Lieutant Hinamori in your care." He waved them goodbye and left for the First Division. He had a lot of explaining to do to the Head Captain, not only for the Hollow but for Hinamori. He already had a feeling that they may make the girl quit being a shinigami and he had a gut feeling that if that happened, it would not go over so well with a certain white hair captain. He was going to have to choose his words carefully if he wanted to help the girl stay in the Seireitei long enough to get her voice back.

* * *

Once they got Hinamori's clothes back, all three went to the Tenth Division office and decided what they should do about the situation. They knew it would be a problem to leave Momo alone with no way to defend herself. She couldn't call for her sword or use any Kidou, and she couldn't even call for help from anyone that could be passing by. So they had to come up with a plan that could work until she got her voice back. Or at least Hitsugaya tried to come up with a plan, Matsumoto was busying playing with Hinamori.

"Ok, since you can't talk right now we'll need some way to communicate with you?" She pondered on ideas for what she could use to talk with the young girl. She looked around the office, trying to see if she could find anything that would be useful. Her eyes stopped at her desk, a mountain of paperwork sitting on the top, and suddenly her eyes began to shine brightly. She ran to her desk and grabbed all the paperwork, a pen, and a clipboard and handed all the items to Hinamori. "Here you go, you can write down everything you want to say." She beamed happily that not only did she help but now she had no paperwork to do and her Captain wouldn't say anything to her.

"Matsumoto…!" Hitsugaya wasn't pleased by any of this. He was somewhat glad that she helped Momo but he was annoyed that she was at the same time ignoring her paperwork again. Plus she assumed that by giving it to Momo as a way for her to talk it wouldn't get him mad at her, well she was wrong. He can just give Momo some clean paperwork that didn't need to be turned in by the end of the day.

"Hold on a minute Captain, I think Hinamori is writing you a message!" She cried happily, taking the pen and paper out of the young and somewhat confused girl hands. "Look!" She smiled brightly and showed her Captain the message.

**I LOVE YOU, CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA! **

Toshiro's heart stopped for a moment after he saw those words, believing what he was reading was real, before shaking his head and growled. He lifted his hand and froze the paper over and glared at his Vice-Captain. "I know that's your handwriting Matsumoto," He crossed his arms and glared at his giggling Lieutenant. "If you're not going to do anything useful then get out!" He yelled as she ran out of the office, still laughing.

Once she was gone, silence overtook the whole room and it felt foreign to Hitsugaya. Usually when Momo visited him his office was always filled with her voice, her laughter, and sometimes even his own. Now without her voice he felt so alone even with her in the very same room. He gave a low unnoticed sigh and reached into his desk. "Here," He threw her a small silver bell. "When you need something ring this and I'll come and help you." He told her quickly before starting his paperwork.

_Ring_

"_That was fast." _He thought looking up from his desk and saw that she had written him a message. This time it was her own handwriting.

**Why do you have a bell?**

It was a normal question she asked him and he gave his reply. "Matsumoto likes to sleep here after drinking so I keep this in case I can't wake her up. Usually the ringing will bother her enough because of her hangover and she'll get up and leave." He answered and went back to his work. He still felt anxious about her not having her voice, but as long as she was in the same room as him, he felt like he could relax a little.

With the feeling of ease he buried himself into his paperwork, ready to finish off the pile and then work to help Momo get her voice back. He wasn't sure how he would do it but he couldn't doubt himself, he vowed that he would protect Momo and he would do it. It was his duty to help her and nothing would stop him from keeping his promise. The promise he made the day he meet Momo, although she never knew about his promise, Toshiro swore to himself that day that he would protect her with his life forever.

With the last document signed and placed into the finished pile, Hitsugaya sighed and stretched out his arms and rubbed his neck. He had his head down and eyes on the paperwork for so long that it hurt to move around. "Sorry if that took a while, Hinamori," He wasn't expecting her to answer so he continued. "What do you say we head over to the Twelfth Division and see if Captain Kurotsuchi came up with a solution for your voice?" He looked up from his desk, expecting to see a smiling Hinamori, but all he saw was an empty office. "Hinamori?" He didn't feel her reiatsu; it's been gone from this room for a while now.

He cursed himself and took off towards the Fifth Division. He wanted to kick himself for not realizing that she had left when she did. She couldn't speak and in a very vulnerable stage right now. He let himself get so involved with his work that he didn't notice when she left, what kind of guardian was he if he kept letting her out of his sight and into possible dangerous situations?

Not even bothering to ask he went straight into her office and crossed his arms and glared when he saw her doing her paperwork. "Hinamori!" He growled out, walking over to her desk and stared into her confused eyes. "Why did you leave my office?"

She wrote down her reply.

**I had paperwork to finish.**

Hitsugaya only sighed and took the small stack from her desk. "You can finish it up at my office. I can't have you being alone like this. What if another Hollow attacked? You'd be defenseless and wouldn't even be able to call for help; you need to stay near me." He commanded ready to walk her back to his office and keep her there until this whole mess was settled.

As he walked to the door but stopped when he felt her pull on his Captain's cloak.

**You're acting weird today, Shiro-Chan? Is something wrong?**

He shook his head no. "Nothing is wrong. I would just prefer it if you stayed with me until you got your voice back."

Once more he went for the door and once again she pulled on his cloak.

**I can be by myself, Shiro-Chan. Nothing is going to happen.**

He growled again and this time pushed her towards the door. "You don't know that. What if there's a fire or attack or the ceiling collapses! You need to stay with me so you don't get hurt." He pushed her out the door and down the halls of the Fifth Division until they reached the gates. Before exiting the Division, Hitsugaya turned around to face all the confused officers. "If anyone you have a problem, don't brother Hinamori but instead come to me. Is that clear!"

"Yes Sir!" They all replied back, some with fear in their voices.

Happy with their answers, Hitsugaya left with Hinamori back to his Division where he could keep and eye on her and where he was sure she would be safe.

**

* * *

Really, I'll be fine on my own. You don't have to go this far Shiro-Chan.**

Momo was still trying to convince her childhood friend that he was taking this whole thing way out of proportion and that she wouldn't die just because she was sitting in her office alone. So far all of her attempts were failing; he wasn't listening to a single thing that she told him. Or rather a single thing that she wrote to him. She finally gave up and let him push her back to his office, might as well save her paper to talk and maybe Rangiku will be in the room and get his attention off of her. She was happy that he cared about her but there was a point where his caring about her safety was just getting ridiculous. It started from when he said that a pipe could explode in her room and drown her and ended when he said that a ball with come flying ball and hit her head making her fall to the ground and break her neck. She wondered where he was coming up with all of this.

"I don't care what you say Hinamori, I'm not letting you out of my sight." He told her as they came up to his office. He stopped her in front of the door and kept his eyes on her to make sure she wouldn't try and run. Satisfied that she was moving he opened the door and allowed them both to enter, but suddenly wished she had run away so he wouldn't have had to come in the room.

"Captain! Welcome back!" Rangiku cried from her spot on the couch. She wasn't alone of course; Captain Kyōraku and Captain Ukitake were sitting opposite of her. Captain Kyōraku drinking along with her, while Ukitake was silently drinking his tea and eating from a bag of sweets.

"Can I help you all?" He huffed when he saw Momo running over to Rangiku and was happily chatting/writing with her. He wouldn't say it, or show it, but he was disappointed that it wasn't only him and Hinamori. He was looking forward to spending some alone time with her.

"Sorry for the sudden disturbance other Shiro, but Rangiku was telling us about what had happened to Lieutenant Hinamori and we thought we could help cheer the girl up," He said with a bright smile. Reaching into his bag of sweets he pulled out a red lollypop and handed it to Momo. "Normally I only share with a fellow Shiro, but I think this may help you feel better." He smiled at her.

Returning the smile, Momo happily took the lollypop and placed the sucker into her mouth. Happy with the taste she wrote down a quick "Thank You" and went back to sucking on the sweet she was given.

"Thank you, Captain Ukitake but I doubt a lollypop will help Momo get her voice back." Hitsugaya sighed, sitting down at his desk and placed Hinamori's paperwork in front of him. The pile of papers couldn't even be called a stack, there was at most ten papers to sign and most of them were just about fixing up the training ground in her Division. He sighed and once again like always was wishing Hinamori was his Lieutenant. He didn't hate Rangiku, he thought of her as a loyal friend, but he was annoyed that she always goofed off while he was stuck in his office. He took his work seriously because he wanted to finish with it so he could spend if only a little time with Hinamori, and if she was his Lieutant then at least he could talk with her together in his office.

"Actually Captain Hitsugaya, we think we have the solution to getting her voice back." Captain Kyōraku said, fixing his hat and stood up from his spot on the couch. He went into front of Momo and grabbed her hand. "So my dear, feel like getting your voice back?" He pulled her up to her feet and walked out of the room with her.

The lollypop gone, Momo allowed for the Captain to pull her along. She wanted to get her voice back, so she would let them take her to wherever it was they needed to take her.

"Let us go." Ukitake motioned for the two Tenth Division officers to follow them all.

The five of them walked out of the Tenth Division and out of the Seireitei itself. They passed over the streets of Rukongai and walked into an open meadow. The meadow was empty of all human life because everyone knew this was an area were many Hollows would appear.

"Why'd you take us here?" Hitsugaya had his arms down at his sides, ready to grab for his zanpakuto if need be.

Captain Kyōraku only smiled again and pushed Hinamori out into the middle of the field. "We're here to hear Lieutenant Hinamori sing."

"Hear her sing?" Rangiku repeated, trying to see if she heard him wrong. "She has no voice, how can she sing?" She eyed the Eight Captained and wondered if maybe giving him some sake to drink was a bad idea.

"But she can sing," Ukitake spoke up for his friend, already seeing the doubt in all their eyes. "That lollypop I gave Hinamori was made by the Twelfth Division."

Momo instantly paled and her hand went up to her throat. She doesn't know a lot about what goes on in the Twelfth Division but she knows enough that a lot of stuff that they made carries poison in them. Already she imaged all kinds of things they could have given her that would make her body perfect for the Captain to dissect.

"Relax." Ukitake spoke up again. "Both Shunsui and I checked the sucker for poison. We even had Unohana examine it before giving it to you." He reassured the girl. He felt sorry for her when he saw her ready to cry when he told her where the sweet had really come from. He wouldn't lie, he too would probably be ready to cry if he received medicine of any kind from Captain Kurotsuchi.

"So she can talk now?" Rangiku asked again, wanting to understand what was given to Hinamori. Although her Captain wasn't saying anything she already knew that he had millions of questions in his head about this whole situation. From the corner of her eye, she saw that he was watching Momo. His eyes never leaving her incase of anything hurting her.

"Only temporally," Ukitake began his explanation. "You see, the sucker was made to bring back her voice for only a short amount of time."

"But why singing?" Rangiku wanted more answers.

"Why not," Kyōraku added in. "She was singing when the Hollow attacked, so why not sing again and see if the Hollow appears again." He shrugged and moved to lean against an old tree. "Once it does, we'll attack and get her voice back." He added crossing his arms.

"And you really think this will work?" Rangiku wasn't to sure about the plan.

Ukitake nodded his head. "Completely." He went over to stand with his long time friend.

Hitsugaya felt that he had been silent long enough. "Momo," He looked into her eyes and saw that there was fear and some confusion in them. "Do you want to do this?" He understood what they were doing was dangerous for her, but he was almost as desperate as her to get her voice back.

With a moment to think it over, Momo nodded her head. She would go through with this plan, even if it scared her; she wanted to have her voice back.

Alright then." Hitsugaya moved away to give her room and stood by Rangiku.

With the four of them in back of her giving her their support, Momo took in a deep breath and readied herself to sing.

A twinkle in the night sky far far away.  
A golden star I gaze upon in my dreams.  
On a sleepless evening I sing alone,  
Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream.  
On a sleepless evening I sing alone.  
Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream.

Her voice was pure and strong, just Like Hitsugaya remembered it to be. He missed this song, he missed hearing her singing it to him in the dead of night as it lulled him back to sleep. It brought him peace of mind and made his body relax enough that not even the dreams of Hyōrinmaru could disturb him. He watched her sing, her face bright with life and happiness, something he missed seeing on her. This person standing in front of him was the real Momo. Not the one that Aizen had made, no this was the Momo that he had grown up with, the one that he was proud to say that he loved.

The song ended and not a moment after the Hollow appeared in the open sky. Its body was fat and round and had wings like a bat. The mask of shaped like a birds and reminded them all of a Canary, just like the reports said it looked like. Before any of them could blink, Captain Kyōraku jumped forward and used his own zanpakuto to cut down the Hollow, destroying it before it could do anymore damage. It let out a loud cry before disappearing and in its place was a small ball of pink light. It flew down to Momo and disappeared once it made contact with her throat.

The ball of light was gone and everyone was still. There weren't sure what had just taken place but all eyes were focused on Momo.

"Momo? Are you alright?" Hitsugaya was the first one to speak up. He slowly took a step towards her, ready to comfort her if she needed to be.

Turning around to face her childhood friend, Momo smiled. "I'm fine Shiro-Chan. You shouldn't worry so much."

Hitsugaya let out a happy sigh and allowed a small smile to come onto his face. He was truly glad that she had her voice back again. He missed hearing it more then any of them could ever know. "Momo…" He moved closer to her, ready to take her into his arms and hug her. Tell her how happy he truly was.

"Momo! I'm so glad!" Too bad Rangiku beat him to it. "I've missed that cute sweet voice of yours!" She cooed, pulling the now suffocating girl closer to her.

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya growled. "Let her go before you end up suffocating her." He barked at his Lieutenant, not happy that she ruined the moment for him or that she was slowly making Momo turning blue because of the lack of air getting to her.

Rangiku let her go and gave a mischievous smile to her Captain. "I see, you wanted to be the first one to hug Momo. Sorry Captain, go right on and hug her!" Rangiku stepped aside for her Captain to hug his childhood friend and not so secret crush. Not many people knew but Rangiku discovered that her Captain talks in his sleep and reveals some very interesting secrets. Most of them being his feelings for Momo.

"Shut up." He growled again, turning away from them all so no one could see his blushing face. "Let's head back."

They all agreed and headed back to the Seireitei.

* * *

With the day finally over, Toshiro was sitting alone on his Division's rooftop and watched as the sun was slowly setting. He felt very relaxed at this one moment, probably because he was watching his favorite pastime. It may have sounded weird for some to hear that a boy liked watching the sunset but he didn't care. It was not only his favorite pastime, it was Momo's as well. He didn't really even consider it his, he considered it theirs. It was their favorite pastime, something that they would do together everyday from the moment they meet.

"What are you looking at?" He jumped when he heard her voice, surprised that he didn't feel her coming.

"Nothing, just watching the sunset." He replied as she sat down next to him.

"I see…" Momo giggled and pulled her knees to her chest, arms wrapping around them and her chin resting on her knees. "Shiro-Chan, can I ask you something?"

He slowly nodded, for a moment fearing that she would ask him to save Aizen again. He couldn't do that, he hated that man; he wanted to kill that man. No matter how baldy she idolized the man or how much she would hate him for killing her idol, he would make sure that Aizen died so that she would be safe.

"Why did you act the way you did today? You acted as itself I would die just by sneezing?" She questioned her friend waiting for him to give an answer. She finally had her voice back and she wanted to find out what was making him act that way. It confused her so much that no matter how she tried she couldn't think of any reason why.

Toshiro was silent. He had a reason, many reasons, but he wasn't sure how to say them. He was never good with words or how to say what he was feeling. Even the day she left for the academy when he told her "Don't bother coming here ever again, Bedwetter-Momo" he really wanted to tell her, "Hurry back home. I don't want you to go." He wanted to tell her so much that day, so much but he knew that she would probably laugh at him. He was only a little kid back then so saying things like "I Love You" would probably not be taken seriously by anyone. Even if she did stay, he knew she would deep down be upset that she didn't get to go to the academy and he knew that if she didn't go, he might have accidentally frozen her when his powers started to get to much for him. He nearly killed their grandmother when she slept next to him, he could only image what he could have done to her, someone he would share a bed with if the night were to cold, or it was thundering, or sometimes even when he felt lonely and decided to sleep with her until morning came and crawl back into his bed without her ever knowing.

There was so much he wanted to tell her, but even now that he was much older he wasn't sure if he could.

Momo watched her friend who seemed to be having some sort of inner battle decided to speak up before his brain went into overload. "Toshiro," She called for his attention. "I'm not sure why you were behaving the way you were but I'm not angry." She smiled at him and moved closer. "I know you were doing it for me and I'm happy that so care so much for me." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad I meet you Shiro-Chan."

In a flash Toshiro wrapped his arms around her tiny frame, his hands holding her own while his head rested on her shoulder. Her body was pulled closer to his, her back facing his awkwardly but he didn't care. The way things felt to him at this moment couldn't have been better. "I was scared," He answered her. "I was worried that I may lose you. There's been so many times were I almost lost you in the past that I didn't want to think of what could happen to take you away from me. I know was acting paranoid and overprotective but that's only because I don't want to let you go," He whispered out softly, these words were for only her to hear. No one else would ever be allowed to hear him speak like this. "I love you, Momo." He brought up one hand to move her face just enough for him to kiss her lips.

* * *

"What do you think they're doing up there?" Rangiku questioned looking up at the roof where she could feel the two shinigami sitting.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just let them be alone for now." Ukitake replied sitting next to his best friend. They were all back in the Tenth Division office and talking about the day's events.

"Let me ask something," Rangiku looked at the two Captains that were sitting across from her. "How'd you know that Hinamori's singing would get the Hollow to appear?" She had a full bottle of sake in front of her but she didn't want to touch it yet, she had a feeling that she wanted to be sober to hear this answer.

"So you caught on?" Ukitake laughed when they were found out.

"I guess we better tell her then." Kyōraku laughed as well, he unlike Rangiku was drinking his cup of sake.

"Very well," Ukitake began to tell the story. "It was one hundred years ago today that the two of us went to the human world. We had to find some traitors that were believed to have escaped there, but we didn't find any of them. Instead we found two very cute and interesting souls."

"Two souls?" Rangiku raised an eyebrow at the last statement. He couldn't be talking about what she was thinking of, could he?

"While we did not find the traitors we found two souls, a young girl and a boy…" Ukitake began to think back to that day when he saw those two souls.

/Flashback/

_It was the dead of winter in the world of the living and the two shinigami Captains weren't surprised when they didn't find the traitors they were looking for. Even shinigami feel the cold and the falling snow was not helping them in their search. They both decided that they would head back but stopped when they heard a light voice being carried in the froze wind. They followed the voice and found that it belong to a young girl, sitting in the middle of a snow filled meadow, a young baby boy in her arms. _

"_Excuse me, dear?" Ukitake was the first one to approach her and speak. "What are you doing out here?" He looked down at the girl. Her clothes were all burned and traces of ash were in her hair, he knew a fire had killed her. He looked closer and saw that the chain of fate on her was almost gone, only five chains left on her. _

_The girl looked up at him, her brown eyes staring into his. "I'm trying to keep this little one at peace." She whispered out, holding the baby closer to her. _

"_Is that so?" Kyōraku sat down in front of the girl and looked at the baby. "This baby won't last much longer in this cold. It's better for you two to move on." He stood back up and moved away from the kids. _

"_Shunsui…" _

"_I know," He replied and used kidou to fire at a Hollow that was coming. It hit one of the wings and the Hollow screamed before flying away. He was ready to run after it but stopped when the baby started to cry and the snowy wind became stronger. _

_They weren't sure what was happening but knew that the baby was the one causing the storm. They moved closer to the baby, ready to do a konso on the baby when the girl stopped them by singing. _

_A twinkle in the night sky far far away.  
A golden star I gaze upon in my dreams.  
On a sleepless evening I sing alone,  
Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream.  
On a sleepless evening I sing alone.  
Tomorrow I'll sing with you on the wings of a dream._

_The crying stopped almost instantly and the falling snow finally let up. The baby was calm now and both Captains gave a quick sigh of relief. They looked back at the two souls and decided it was best to get them into the Soul Society before anymore Hollows showed up. _

"_I'm sorry, but it's time for you two to leave this world." Ukitake said his sword ready for the konso._

_The girl only nodded. "I know, I'm only waiting for this little one to be ready." She leaned her cheek against the babies head. _

"_Is this your little brother?" Ukitake asked her. _

_She shook her head. "No, I found him here in the snow crying for someone to find him. He was all alone so I decided to stay with him. He seemed so lonely when I found him that I wanted him to feel loved. I want this baby to know that he's not alone and that even if others don't feel anything, I'll love him forever." She told them her story, kissing the baby's forehead. "You're shinigami correct?" It was her turn to ask them a question. _

"_You've seen others before I'm guessing?" Kyōraku was wondering how long the girl had been waiting with this one child. _

_She nodded her head. "Many have come and tired to send us on, but this little one always puts up a fight whenever it happens." She giggled as the baby opened his eyes, revealing cold teal eyes, and reached out for her hand. She let him grab her hand and smiled when he held on tight. _

"_He seems very attached to you." Ukitake commented amazed to see just how badly the baby wanted to stay with this girl. _

_She nodded her head. "Yes. It's gotten to the point, that I can't put him down with him crying." She said with a smile, not bothered by it at all. She didn't seem to mind that she seemed to be holding the baby forever. _

"_Well then," Kyōraku pulled his zanpakuto out and Ukitake followed him. "I guess we'll just have to send you both off at the same time." He smiled to her. _

_The girl smiled back before turning her attention back to the baby. "Don't worry, little one. You won't be alone, we're going together and it'll always stay that way." She reassured the baby who seemed to understand her because it did not cry when Ukitake used his zanpakuto on him and Kyōraku on the girl. The baby knew that it was going with along with the girl to a better life._

/End Flashback/

"So that bird...?" Rangiku was a little confused by their tale. The bird couldn't have been the same Hollow that they defeated that same day.

"I know what you're thinking, it's unlikely that the Hollow we defeated today was the same as the one from before but it was the very same," Ukitake took a sip of his tea. "It's a certain type of Hollow, its power comes from the voices of the souls. My guess is that it must have heard Hinamori's singing and remembered it from the past and was able to sneak it to steal it."

"This time it Hitsugaya that saved the day," Kyōraku finished off his cup and went on to his next. "Little sucker is getting stringer everyday." He smiled out the window, he a had a feeling of what might be happening on the roof.

Rangiku smiled herself and poured another drink. "Seems like those two have a stronger bond than I thought."

"Yep, those two have been together longer then they've really known." Kyōraku interrupted, leaning back against the couch. "That song Hinamori sang was one she probably knew when she was alive."

Rangiku listened to the story and suddenly felt very happy but also a little bit sad. "Those two really care for each other. Even in death, those two have cared and loved each other." She smiled as she watched the setting sun from the open windows. "I have to admit that I'm a little jealous of them."


End file.
